In order to facilitate hygienic care of the teeth and gingival areas, a variety of power operated toothbrushes have been developed and are currently available on the market. Typically, these power operated toothbrushes are electrically driven to drive the toothbrush head in either a linear motion or through a limited rotary motion.
Many types of power operated toothbrushes are well known in the art; however, these power operated toothbrushes have design characteristics that can be improved. For instance, one type of power operated toothbrush provides a linear motion of the toothbrush head. This linear motion of the toothbrush head is an axial back and forth motion, wherein the toothbrush head moves in one direction, stops, and then moves back in the opposite direction, and then repeats this linear motion. When a toothbrush of this type is applied to the surface of the teeth, the bristles of the toothbrush head that are in contact with the teeth will move across the teeth, cleaning the teeth as the toothbrush head moves in one direction. However, when the toothbrush head reaches the end of this motion, the bristles stop on the surface of the teeth, are bent back in the opposite direction, and are brought back across the teeth in the opposite direction. At the point where the bristles stop on the teeth, the cleaning action of the bristles also stops. It is undesirable, in the motion of the toothbrush head across the teeth, that the cleaning bristles should stop, since a regular or continuous cleaning action on the teeth will not be provided.
Another type of power operated toothbrush currently available has a toothbrush head having at least one tuft of bristles rotatably mounted in the toothbrush head. Each rotating tuft of bristles, in combination with a toothpaste, cleans the surface of the teeth, the space between the teeth, the gums, and the space between the teeth and gums. There are however, problems inherent with power operated toothbrushes having rotating tufts of bristles, since abrasive-type toothpastes may build up in the rotating tufts of bristles and cause the rotating tuft of bristles to lock or bind, preventing their rotation.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush that can clean the surface of the teeth, can clean between the teeth, can clean between the teeth and gums, and can clean and stimulate the gums of a user in a more reliable and beneficial way than previously available with automatic toothbrushes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush wherein the bristles of the toothbrush head are continually moving across the surface of the teeth and do not stop while in contact with the surface of the teeth.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush wherein the bristles will not lock up or bind when an abrasive toothpaste is used.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush in which the toothbrush bristles on the head move in a complex motion across the surface of the teeth, such as a figure-eight or cross-over motion, to clean and sweep placque and debris from under the gum line in a forward and reverse arc.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush having a support means for the toothbrush that moves or oscillates in a direction along the longitudinal axis of the power operated toothbrush housing and also simultaneously moves in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the power operated toothbrush housing to produce a complex motion.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a power operated toothbrush wherein the support means for the toothbrush oscillates one cycle in a direction along the longitudinal axis of the housing while simultaneously moving more than one cycle in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing to produce a complex motion of the toothbrush head across the surface of the teeth.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush wherein the support means of the toothbrush oscillates one cycle in a direction along the longitudinal axis of the housing while simultaneously moving two cycles in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing to cause the toothbrush head to move in a figure-eight or cross-over motion across the surface of the teeth.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a power operated toothbrush wherein the shaft supporting the toothbrush bristles oscillates in a direction along the longitudinal axis of the housing or the shaft while simultaneously moving in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing thus producing two directions of non-circular movement from one drive shaft.
It will be appreciated from the foregoing that there is a definite need for a power operated toothbrush that provides the above objects. The present invention fulfills these needs.